Produced by Roberta Staehlin and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: Copyright by A. S. Burbank, Plymouth, Mass. BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM BRADFORD. AUSTERFIELD, ENGLAND.] WILLIAM BRADFORD OF PLYMOUTH BY ALBERT H. PLUMB [Illustration] BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY RICHARD G. BADGER All Rights Reserved Made in the United States of America The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. TO ALL DESCENDANTS OF WILLIAM BRADFORD AND TO ALL WHO ADMIRE THIS LEADER OF NEW ENGLAND'S FOUNDERS THIS CONCISE AND UNPRETENTIOUS RECORD OF HIS LIFE AND ACTS IS DEDICATED IN THE HOPE THAT BY HIS EXAMPLE WE MAY BE INSPIRED AND STRENGTHENED, THE BETTER TO DO OUR OWN PART IN NOBLE LIVING AND IN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ACHIEVEMENTS PREFACE It is a pleasing task to record afresh the life course of one of those whom the poet Whittier characterized as "the noblest ancestry that ever a people looked back to with love and reverence." The leading authorities, particularly the Pilgrim narrators themselves and those more nearly contemporary with them, have contributed to this biography. Though early Plymouth events and the career of Bradford are inseparably connected, the colonial history is here limited and made subservient to the personal consideration, with regret that there do not appear more obtainable data of this nature. Undoubtedly the Governor's modest reticence largely accounts for this. We can only be thankful that we have what we have. ALBERT H. PLUMB. CONTENTS PAGE I THE BOY 11 II THE PILGRIM 23 III THE GOVERNOR: EARLY DUTIES 41 IV THE GOVERNOR: LATER ADMINISTRATION 61 V THE GOVERNOR: LAST ACTS 89 WILLIAM BRADFORD OF PLYMOUTH I THE BOY _Earth's transitory things decay, Its pomps, its pleasures pass away; But the sweet memory of the good Survives in the vicissitude._ J. BOWRING. The world has nothing more worthy of our regard than its unconscious heroes. Though many can discern their own true importance, a peculiar charm invests such as do not realize it, even if they are told. They seem to think others would have done better in their place, and they lightly estimate their services, at less than their fellow-men accredit them. His ideal of duty captivates the doer more than his own agency therein. The noblest men are made by the contemplation of their models. Like the great Apostle, they are not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. Among earth's worthies, modest and unconscious of greatness, there stands the figure of William Bradford.